Let’s end this edition on a high, shall we? Various Volvos, juicy Jaguars and delicious Dinos… Well, one delicious Dino GT4, anyway. So I guess that means we’ll kick things off with Ferraris, huh. If we must, that’s what we’ll have to do. Grin and bear it.
The first flat-12 Ferrari was the 365 GT4 BB, made from 1973 to 1976. I hadn’t clocked that this was one of them – the triple taillights and tailpipes is the giveaway. If it ever comes back to the Sunday meets, I’ll make sure to give it the attention it deserves.
That flat-12 lived on in the famous Testarossa, which is not a Ferrari I appreciate much. But hey, it’s probably iconic for a reason.
Mondials used to be pooh-poohed as ersatz Ferraris. And maybe the earlier ones were. But by the time this 3.2 came around in 1985, there were a few more cavallinos in that V8.
Same engine, but a more competent vessel? The concave wheels make this 328 GTB an early example (1986-88) of the breed.
Well, it had to happen someday. They apparently started selling these so-called Purosangues in 2023, yet this is the first one I’ve seen in Japan. I guess most local tifosi prefer their Ferraris in non-SUV form, and who can blame them. Say one nice thing: the rear suicide doors are a cool touch.
Trident-wise, there were quite a few Coupés on the road. I like these, especially the early 3200 GTs (1998-2002), with those awesome boomerang taillights…
Not sure how this one got Mississippi plates. I thought these weren’t sold in the USA?…
Technically, this facelifted (well, buttlifted anyway) version is the Maserati Coupé or 4200 GT, made between 2002 and 2007.
Ah, the Biturbo. Love to hate those, though this one is old enough to at least look pretty good. We have seen it before, in a different setting.
We’ll end the Maser chapter on a Ghibli (the O.G., not one of the subsequent imposters). Hard to believe the very same person – Giorgetto Giugiaro – designed this and the 3200 GT.
The Alfa Romeo population remains at healthy levels, particularly the Bertone 105 coupés.
I tend to only bother photographing the ones I see outside of the Jingu Gaien area. Otherwise, it’d be too easy.
I need to write one of these Alfetta GTs up. Not this specific one, though – a few too many mods for my taste.
I’m sure we all love the 164, but finding one is another matter. Wish this one could have stood still, as it would have made for a fine CC post to go alongside the Lancia Thema one I authored recently.
Talk of the devil, eh?
Three Lancia Delta Integrales in one shot – try and beat that.
Catching one in any colour other than red is worth more points, in my book.
A pair of Beta Montecarlos on the move? This is more of a teaser than anything else, really. Keep your eyes peeled for more on this (hopefully) soon.
We’ll polish off the Italian chapter with a few Fiats. The undisputed king of the mountain – not just the Alps, either: the Panda 4×4.
Lots of aftermarket bits on this Fiat 500, but somehow this is offset by that interesting colour scheme.
This has to be one of the nicest non-Abarth 500s I’ve ever seen.
No notes, full marks. The suicide doors, the luggage rack, the medium blue – all wonderful. Slow? Yes, but what’s the hurry? Noisy? It’s a convertible — not made for conversation anyway.
Over to the British side of the matter, then. Minis come in all shapes, but just the one size. Whoever did the body work on this one did not, one hopes, quit their day job.
Still quite ugly, but the execution was done far more competently. One of the few Clubmans I’ve seen in Japan, too.
If you want to get attention from the Mini crowd, forget Coopers or Clubmans, though: show up in a 95 Van. This is a later model, circa 1980-83, if the steering wheel with the three-blue-bar Austin-Morris logo is any indication.
We have A/C, I see. A pretty common Japanese kit specially made for these cars. Surprisingly roomy in there, too. The Tardis effect, British Leyland style.
Small and tidy packaging, slathered in chrome and filled with wood and leather – the ADO16 Princess seems to have been made for Japanese Anglophiles.
This is obviously an Austin-Healey Sprite racer of some sort. A quick image search yielded no results, so if anyone knows anything more, do please drop a line in the CComments.
Aha, the final Healey – of the Jensen kind, with the troubled Lotus engine. Why do I keep thinking “Triumph” whenever I see one of these?
I’m guessing this is the new(ish) Morgan Plus Four, which has been in production since 2020. They’re starting to look odd, like those folks who had a bunch of plastic surgery.
This circa 1990 Plus 8 looks a lot better to my eyes. The black paint does help, too…
A couple fine Series 1 E-Types were sighted. The usual pair, i.e. a roadster…
…and a coupé. Take your pick, folks.
Just one Jag saloon to report this spring: an XJ40 – not my favourite by any stretch, but one must play the hand that’s dealt.
Seeing a pre-facelift (1996-2000) Cerbera always takes me back to my university days in London. These were the car to be seen in, growling and snarling their way down Knightsbridge, King’s Road or Oxford Street.
These impressive machines either had a 4-litre straight-6 or a V8 (4, 4.2 or 4.5 litre), both being in-house engines. Didn’t save TVR, though – they went under in 2007.
I guess the new in thing to display one’s wealth, whether in London’s West End or in central Tokyo, would be the new Rolls EV – the Spectre. But I’ve also heard they’re not selling all that well. This is only the second one I’ve seen here, for what that’s worth.
The UK’s automotive landscape is replete with tiny specialist shops manufacturing sports cars in minute quantities. Sometimes, I meet one I’d not know about, such as the Radical RXC. These curious-looking contraptions have been street-legal since 2013 and are usually powered, like this one, by a 3.5 litre Ford V6 – some with turbocharging. Intriguing.
Similar to the Radical, albeit made 20 years earlier: the 1992-99 Ultima Sports. This Lee Noble-designed racer and is meant to accommodate a variety of engines. Ultima usually pushed the British-made Rover V8, but many clients preferred their V8s with a Chevy bowtie on top. Some also opted for the PRV V6 or the Mazda 13B rotary.
We have a few Astons to get to, while we’re here. Still not getting tired of the Rapide…
This DB5 was in a shop window near Omote-Sando. No idea why, as the rest of the store sold clothing.
The Aston of the season was, without a doubt, this 1929-30 International tourer.
I had already spotted and posted about one of these rare nonagenarians, but there was another one waiting in the wings. This one is a four-seater, though – beautiful, sporting, exclusive, but you can still bring your friends along.
Somebody on their journey of Discovery took a wrong turn at Zanzibar and ended up at the Prince Hotel car park in Tokyo, eh? No worries, happens all the time. The way to Borneo? Sure. Go down this road, take a right at the second set of lights and head south for about 4500km. Can’t miss it.
One has come to expect the unexpected on this tree-lined avenue, but who had “1961 Commer FC” on their bingo card? I know I didn’t.
No Triumph motorcars were deemed worthy of inclusion (they’re always around, but we’ve seen them before) in this edition, so we will make do with the two-wheeled kind. Bonneville T140, anyone?
This looks like an earlier T120 Bonneville, but I’m really out of my depth here.
OK, strictly speaking, it’s made in India. But with a name like Royal Enfield, it’s wearing its British roots on its sleeves. Or at least its fuel tank.
We move on to the sold Russian entry of the entire season – a substantial one, too. Good thing I wrote one of these LWB Nivas up recently.
Some sweet Swedes to close the post – how delicious. I see this 940 Polar wagon on a fairly regular basis. Never looked at it closely until just a few days ago. The condition it’s in is remarkable (as expected), but the kicker is that baby blue hue. Most unusual.
I’ve seen many more P-1800s around town than these handsome Bertone boxes. Which is understandable, in a way, but also rather odd.
The profile is this car’s best angle. Very Italian, yet still plenty of Volvo cues – terrific blend. No Saabs were caught, sadly, but it’s not quite the last Swedish car I have in store for you. Drumroll please for…
…the first Koenigsegg I’ve seen… ever? Yeah, probably. This is one of the twenty-seven Agera RSs made between 2015 and 2018. Its 5-litre V8 churns out between 1160 and 1340hp. Good thing I was quick to take a few snaps.
What will the summer bring, apart from heat rashes, high electric bills and mosquito bites? We’re just going to have to wait until October the first and see.
Yes, you are definitely coming around to the charms (charm?) of the Biturbo and its many, many descendants (or attempts to juice the till by renaming?), I can feel it …you’ve featured the same one previously: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1989-maserati-biturbo-am331-222-e-plastic-trident/ but were far more gracious this time around. And the first photo this time around is perhaps its best angle, although the front 3/4 shot isn’t half bad either. The car looks the business. Finito.
The Camel Discovery is one of those things that will shock the average American (and perhaps Japanese too?) that didn’t realize that a downmarket Discovery kitted out to actually criss-cross unpaved continents looks a lot more like a beaten down 1982 Ford Escort wagon with a lift kit, a rattle can paint job, and a roof rack than a shiny thing with huge knobbies and a half-ton of roof tents and shiny red high lift jacks and other what-not strapped to the top and sides, all of it oh so useful within sight of the Crunch Fitness parking lot waiting for the tow truck.
I have to say I quite like the more “everyman’s” Ferraris, the 308/328/348/Mondial, maybe it’s just the relative familiarity, IDK, but they seem more approachable and, even on the Mondial, the styling works. That SUV thing though, well, I shan’t speak of it. Your opening photo of the Dino is sublime, btw, the lighting is perfect.
Another good show (as usual).
Funny that I had the dead-opposite reaction to you about that fag-packet colored Disco – the rattlecan, the lack of adorningments and zigzoggy stripes, the little wheels, it all brings out what a damn fine piece of design that first three-door was. Escort wagon my bottom, and I will ignore the vague recall of some sarky Englishman once calling it a masterwork whereby a Transit body with roof windows was chucked on an old Range Rover chassis and sold as somfing upmarket.
As for the Bi-TurdBo, I think you meant to type that he’s coming around to the harms of it, for it did indeed make one assume their business was finito.
No you misread me, I like it as is, I meant that many of the “target market” have no idea of how they are/were often used. We just do not see them like this over here, and forget about ever seeing one in a muddy farmer’s field somewhere…
You’ll see old Discos kitted out for the trail, and some actually do go on a trail, but never without oversize BFG KO2s, never with body color steelies, and a newish LR? Not unless you’re a YouTuber.
We never got the three-door, more’s the pity, but getting little Jaxsyn strapped into the rear would be a bit of a chore so that explains it.
Best 4x4xFar was (is?) one of the best taglines since BMW came up with theirs though…
Oh yes, they had the same role of Jaxyn-raising here too. Now, though, they’re at the low-value stage where nutter off-road types do indeed kit them for mud-plugging, though as the joke goes, you drive there in a Landrover but come home in a Landcruiser.
Three doors actually command a bit now, as we got them only at the start.
Bro in law and sis broke down in a rental Landcruiser and were towed out of Kings Canyon by a Landrover.
I agree with Jim above as being fan of Mondials – and maybe it’s just what he said regarding these cars seeming more “approachable.” My favorite Ferrari of that era is probably a Mondial in a color other than red, so this maroon one (and with an unusual-looking gray interior) sure does it for me.
For my #2 favorite here, I’ll go with the polar opposite… no, not the Volvo Polar (though that’s neat too), but rather the Commer van. Looks like its ready for a nice, retro camping trip!
The Sprite is a version of the Sebring Sprite. Originally built for better aero for racing at Lemans Since it’s just fiberglass bonnet replacement several versions have appeared since then. https://www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/4623408165/
Haven’t see one of those Commer vans since I was a teenager many decades ago – I think they were a Rootes product.
Yeah Rootes built them, Minx engine g/box & front suspension Humber Hawk diff and a tin box around them to keep the rain out, crude but effective.
Tail lights look the same as the ones my dear old Auntie Elsie’s Minx had.
I bet they had long waggily shifters as well.
Yes, they are Audax Minx taillights. That’s a really early example too without any kind of grille in the lower front. That was changed very early on, though it took a while before they adopted a ‘proper’ grille on the front, the shape in keeping with the one below the windscreen.
The Disco’s rear lights too are early so straight off the Maestro van. Later they altered them to get rid of the orange lens (clear lens, orange bulbs).
The Sebring Sprite is a charmer, and gives meaty look to what’s usually a dainty looker. In superb order, too, so it’s my take-home. When it rains, I’ll always take a Rapide, which age like fine wine.
I’ve not long ago seen a Ferrari Pursewangler, and for all the world, the silly thing looked like that BMW Z3 shoe-thingy coupe, albeit a platform shoe.
But I’ve got to confess the Swedish King’s-eggegg whatsit is stunning. Never seen one, though apparently there’s a few here. I somehow like the upstart nature of the enterprise in the face of such established names. The car looks small – is it?
Nice collection as usual, I never know what to expect to be found on Japanese streets but a Commer van is the last thing I thought would still be alive in modern Japan, they were everywhere in NZ once upon a time the post office had thousands of them, one or two survive.
Mini Clubmans were common in Aussie that front sheetmetal was the only way they could pass crash standards, fun little cars to drive if the suspension is good, Mini vans/wagons and pickups are really rare now especially in that condition.
One Tiger and a Bonneville if my Triumph bike memory serves.
The style of the original Ghibli is one of the pinnacles of automotive design and is hard to surpass. Along with the Jaguar XJ sedans, it’s perhaps the pinnacle of 20th-century European automotive design (stylewise).
All the other Italian cars don’t do it for me.
The color of the 940 station wagon isn’t an original color for this model. Possibly a light blue for a 240 series MY 1983 / 1984.
Let’s see, Mississippi plates. Take a walk on Bourbon Street with a screwdriver!
On a serious note, is it legal to drive in Japan on those plates?
The Roller is just disgusting, but the 29-30 Aston with flower boxes is awesome……
& a good 4th to all…….
Reckon the Jensen-Healey makes you think “Triumph” at first glance due to a resemblance to many of Michelotti’s later designs for Triumph — especially that sliced-off Kamm tail edged in chrome with British Leyland parts-bin taillights.